


Dinner and a Show

by mel_tokio



Category: Tales of Crestoria
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27543061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mel_tokio/pseuds/mel_tokio
Summary: Aegis just wants to enjoy his meal in peace. The rest of the party has other plans.
Relationships: Aegis Alver/Vicious
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	Dinner and a Show

**Author's Note:**

> Note that at the time of publishing, only six chapters of Crestoria's main story have been released, so I apologize if this ends up somehow conflicting with canon later on. This takes place near the end of Chapter 6, Stage 6.

After days of being harassed by monsters on the bumpy seas, it felt good to be on solid ground again, and the Nokana Inn’s hospitality made it all the better. As soon as the party made their reservation for the night, the innkeeper, who thankfully didn’t seem to recognize any of them, had insisted on providing a complimentary dinner for the whole room that evening. “As thanks for taking care of our Sonia,” she’d explained. Aegis, well aware that the group was in no position to turn down anything free, was eager to politely accept the offer on everyone’s behalf.

Of course, saving money on a meal meant nothing with Vicious blowing every last gald the food would have cost on booze.

The Great Transgressor sat shamelessly at the head of the table, wiping the foam from his third glass of beer of the night off of his face with the back of his hand. As he often did, he’d opted for a liquid dinner instead of the meatloaf and salad he could have had  _ completely for free _ because apparently he existed for the sole purpose of wasting the budget Aegis worked hard to plan. The two had agreed to get along as long as they were stuck traveling together, but  _ damn _ , was Vicious making it hard.

But in spite of the Great Transgressor trying his patience at every given opportunity, Aegis could at least take some pride in the knowledge that his tolerance for Vicious was leagues higher than Misella’s.

“If you want to starve to death, that’s no skin off my back,” the girl scowled across the table through a mouthful of meatloaf. “But you could have still accepted the meal even if you didn’t want it for yourself. I would have gladly eaten your share of the meat. And Aegis would probably eat the salad. It’s basically grass, after all.”

“For the last time, Misella,  _ I do not eat grass. _ ” Aegis sighed, scooping up another forkful of lettuce. “That said, I certainly wouldn’t say no to an extra helping of this salad. The house vinaigrette is simply divine.”

“Well, if you like the salad so much…” said Misella, the proverbial light bulb over her head practically glowing, “I’ll trade you mine for your meat.”

As Aegis pondered the offer, Yuna, seated at his side, arms crossed below her voluptuous chest in a way that might make other, straighter men lose their composure, clicked her tongue.

“Oh, mademoiselle, zat is not ze correct way to ask a gentleman for a favor,” she chided. “If you wish to get what you want, you must do it like  _ zis _ .”

She scooched her chair a little closer to her neighbor, lips upturned in a mischievous grin, and placed a delicate hand softly on his cheek.

“Oh, Aegis,  _ mon ami _ ,” she sighed sweetly, leaning in until their faces were mere centimeters apart. “Surely a big, strong man such as yourself does not need all zat meatloaf. Could you not spare a little for  _ moi _ ? I am just...so very ‘ungry, and some  _ delicieux _ meat from a handsome gentleman would surely hit ze spot.”

Aegis’s whole body turned as stiff as his chair, ears keenly aware of the snickers and snorts resounding from all sides of the table. Had he been less sure of his orientation, getting this kind of innuendo-laden attention from a conventionally attractive woman might be kind of awkwardly enjoyable, but as a man who was very, very certain that he was gay, it just left him sitting there, still as a sculpture, eager for Yuna to move away so he could breathe comfortably again.

After a few very long seconds, Kanata miraculously interrupted the romantic moment.

“Come on, Yuna, you know that won’t work,” the boy piped up from next to Misella.

“Oh?” Yuna (finally) pulled away from her victim, tilting her head as Aegis silently thanked the gods for Kanata’s salvation. “And what makes you say zat?”

“Well, Aegis has a strong moral code, right?” Kanata explained matter-of-factly. “There’s no way he’d ever cheat on Vicious.”

All gratitude Aegis had felt towards Kanata immediately went out the window.

“Kanata, I don’t think—” Misella tried to intervene, but was promptly cut short by Vicious spitting out his drink, quite rudely spraying the entire table with a fine mist of beer, and roaring with laughter as he leaned back precariously in his chair.

Aegis could feel half the blood in his body rushing to his face like salmon swimming upstream.

“I fail to see what’s so funny about Kanata’s misconception,” he asserted, hand firmly grasping his fork as he attempted to calm himself down with a purposeful stab to a slice of cucumber.

Still laughing, Vicious got up and made his way over to Aegis’s seat.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” he teased, his boozy breath warming Aegis’s face as he leaned in even closer than Yuna had. “Embarrassed that the cat’s out of the bag?”

“V-Vicious, if you don’t stop this instant…” Aegis grumbled, shrinking back into his seat as much as humanly possible and doing his best to resist the urge to plant his fork in Vicious’s neck.

His violent thoughts were broken off by fingers roughly stroking his hair.

“ _ Damn _ , you’re cute when your face is all red like that.”

What little personal space Aegis had left slowly began dwindling as the Great Transgressor’s lips crept dangerously close to his own.

All at once, his pounding brain took inventory of all the details he’d spent the past few weeks actively trying not to notice—

...the sharp curves of his eyebrows…

_ THUMP. _

...the gentle slope of his nose…

_ THUMP. _

...that one lock of hair that fell dangerously close to his eyes…

_ THUMP. _

and gods, had his eyelashes  _ always _ been that long?

_ THUMP. _

At the last possible second, Vicious leaned to the side and closed the distance with a quick kiss on Aegis’s cheek.

“Misella, catch!” he yelled.

Before Aegis had any time to react to the sudden physical contact, let alone Vicious’s ulterior motive, Vicious pulled away, yanked Aegis’s slab of meatloaf off his plate, and tossed it across the table. 

Misella’s reflexes kicked in instantly, and she caught the offering neatly on her plate, gazing at it with the awe of a maiden in love.

“Don’t say I never did nothin’ for ya, kid.” Vicious winked.

“You’re all a bunch of lunatics,” Aegis muttered, heartbeat still echoing in his head as Misella shamelessly began to dig into her seconds.

“Takes one to know one,” Vicious replied with a firm pat on Aegis’s head. Aegis elected to chalk the abrupt jolt in his pulse up to stress rather than excitement at Vicious’s touch. “But hey, look on the bright side. You totally have license to take Misella’s grass now.”

“I don’t even  _ want _ the gra—the  _ salad— _ anymore!”

Kanata perked up at that.

“If you don’t want it, can I have it?”

“Sure, fine,” Aegis muttered, standing up and pushing in his chair. “I’m going to bed. You people exhaust me.”

“Sweet dreams, loverboy!” Vicious called out as Aegis marched over to his bed, intently avoiding eye contact.

And as Aegis settled into the bed and pulled the duvet over his flushed face, he wondered if Vicious really expected him to dream at all, or if the Great Transgressor somehow knew that Aegis would likely be kept awake all night, feeling deeply ashamed of himself for the elation he felt at Vicious’s lips meeting his cheek, and even more ashamed himself for the disappointment that it was only his cheek.


End file.
